Ξ January 5th, 2009 | → 1 Comments | ∇ Life |
Have you ever felt as though folks who haven’t been religiously endoctrinated for decades are the fortunate ones, when coming to an understanding of God’s love for her, his its creation.
I find that when I explore new issues concerning the character of God my old endoctrination keeps popping up again and again and it hinders me from acquiring the benefit thereof. It colors everything I think, everything I read.
Those who were raised outside of religious endoctrination don’t have this baggage weighing them down, and IMO can see through to the truths of God with greater ease, when our Source’s speaks in their hearts. The conclusion I have reached is simply anything worth having is not gained without pain of all kinds. What do you think?
Ξ December 30th, 2008 | → 2 Comments | ∇ Life |
"The psychological condition of fear is divorced from any concrete and true immediate danger. It comes in many forms: unease, worry, anxiety, nervousness, tension, dread, phobia, and so on. This kind of psychological fear is always of something that might happen, not of something that is happening now."
-Eckart Tolle
Ξ December 23rd, 2008 | → 1 Comments | ∇ Life |
The next several days will be busy in the Rogers’ household, sooooooo……………in case I don’t get back to my blog, I want to wish all my blogworld friends a very
Merry Christmas !!
Ξ December 22nd, 2008 | → 7 Comments | ∇ Life |
"Life with God is not about believing certain teachings about God. It is about a covenant — a relationship. More specifically, it is about becoming conscious of a relationship that already exists, for the God of the Bible has been in relationship with us from our beginning, whether we know it or not, believe it or not. And we are not simply to become conscious of it; we are to become intentional about deepening the relationship. Christian faith is not about believing, but about faithfulness - fidelity - to the relationship."
"Reading the Bible Again for the First Time" - Marcus Borg
If you count yourself as a Christian, a faithful Christian, then this is something that you should give thought to. Why are you a Christian?
Ξ December 19th, 2008 | → 2 Comments | ∇ Life |
My friend Jim Palmer, over at Jim’s Blog (Divine Nobodies) recently re-defined the English word repentance, explaning the Greek root which is Metanoia. Jim’s explanation is excellent and I offer it here just as it appeared on Jim’s blog:
A popular Bible verse says to, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
Romans 12:2
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I’ve never liked the word “repent.” For me, it conjures up images of judgment, condemnation, and fear. Jesus often says in the gospels, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” For years it was troubling to me that Jesus so often used this word because it smacked of everything that repelled me about religion. But then the Spirit began to open my eyes to its true meaning and place in my journey with God.
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First I realized that Jesus could not have been using the word pointing a finger of condemnation. Jesus said in John 3:17, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” I discovered the word “repent” (metanoia) actually means a change of mind or having a new mind. The word suggests a radical revision and transformation of our whole mental process. That “change of mind” allows God to take center place in our consciousness, in our awareness, and in our minds.
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You’re getting it if you can imagine Jesus walking into a crowd of hurting, rejected, empty, lonely, fearful, wounded, hopeless people and saying, “God’s kingdom is now within your reach! But you’ll have to undergo a change of heart and mind to grasp it.” Metanoia literally means “beyond the mind.” So it’s an idea of stretching or pushing beyond the boundaries with which we normally think and feel. For me, it has often involved pressing beyond my religious conditioning.
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Initially, Jesus “calling me to repentance” went something like this:
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“God’s kingdom is now within your reach Jim! But grasping it will push you beyond the boundaries of what you normally think and feel about yourself, God, and life. It will even call into question certain religious notions you have learned. You don’t feel deserving of the life, peace, and freedom God wants to give you. Press beyond those feelings Jim. The truth is, God loves you and freely offers all of this and more. Jim, you think and act as if your daily performance and behavior determines your good standing with God. The truth is, there’s nothing you could ever do or not do that would alter your worth, favor, and acceptance to God. Wherever you are now on the journey, you are loved and accepted by God. You feel inadequate to know and understand God and the things of God. Consider this Jim, you have the Spirit within to guide you into all truth. Pay more attention to the ways of a child and you’ll get it. You are a son of God. I was resurrected from the dead within you. When it all works right, you won’t even know where “you” end and “I” begin. It will be like the life you are living is me living in and through you. You tend to think of your separateness from God, I want you to feel and experience your oneness with God. Trust me Jim. You’re just scratching the surface. There’s more to it than you think. I’m always at my work within you. Rest in me.”
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“Metanoia” has been more of a process that an event for me, and has involved changes such as:
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• Associating my deepest feelings with the voice of truth
• Locating the source of life, love, peace, freedom, contentment, goodness, and connectedness within me
• Seeing myself and all people as sons and daughters of God and therefore my brother or sister
• Opening my heart to the spiritual dimension of all of life, regardless of how mundane or ordinary it mat seem through human eyes
• Understanding the significance and relevance of Jesus in terms much greater than I had ever realized before.
Thanks Jim, for such an great explanation of a not-so-easy-to-understand term.
Ξ December 17th, 2008 | → 7 Comments | ∇ Life |
To follow up on my last post, I want to further explore the quote by Marcus Borg. Justification by grace as Paul thought of it reminds us that a life "under the law" is a life about "measuring up", about how well we do. Is that really any different than what is stressed in most Christian denominations today? How many times have you as a member of a "church" heard: Do we have enough faith? Are we good enough? This may be something not preached from a pulpit every week, but the implication is there. If you are religious, chances are you see your standing before God as dependent upon your earnestness in your religious life. If you’re not religious, life "under the law" probably means seeing your identity and self-asteem as dependent upon measuring up to cultural standards of achievement or appearance or worth. Either way, this is the "performance principle".
Justification by grace is not about forgiveness. Paul believed that he was forgiven even before his "Damascus" experience. This from his understanding of Judaism.
Justification by grace is not about who goes to heaven and how you get there. I believe that this preoccupation with heaven came about in the Middle Ages when life was a tad tough and everyone, well almost everyone, looked forward to a time and place when things would be much better. Almost always the term "Kingdom of Heaven" can be translated "Kingdom of God", which Jesus said had already come. Our standard Christian experience places this GREAT emphasis, this preoccupation, on heaven and as a result we miss the point. It is within this preoccupation that we start to wonder, "if justification is by grace, then does that mean everyone goes to heaven?" The Universal Reconciliation folks would say YES! The majority of Christians may say, "But that isn’t fair". But is that really the point? I don’t think so. So if it isn’t "fair", then what. We are led back to works, doing something to gain something. Our preoccupation with the afterlife, whatever that may mean, has profoundly distorted today’s Christianity.
I don’t think Paul’s understanding of justification was simply the replacement of one requirement, works with another, grace. Faith replaces good works, as what God requires of us. Whatever we seem to do, the system of requirements remains, only the content changes. Faith in the idea of grace, a God who justifies the "ungodly" seems to be Paul’s thoughts. What is this idea? Maybe it is the abolition of the whole system of requirements. One of my favorite authors, Neale Donald Walsch, has written a book called "What God Wants". I recommend it highly. Although, you might be a little surprised as to his conclusions.
So what, then is justification by grace all about? I cannot tell you what to think. But to me it is about our basis of a continuing relationship to God right now. It is a GIFT, a GIVEN, not about meeting requirements for salvation later, but life in the present.
*some material from Marcus Borg.
Ξ December 17th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
Grace, not law; faith, not works. Justification is a free gift, not a reward for achievement.
- Marcus Borg, "Reading the Bible Again for the First Time"
Ξ December 9th, 2008 | → 4 Comments | ∇ Life |
How can one say that God is love and then verbalize the following beliefs?
1- God’s grand plan was to have 90% of the people He created suffer torment in hell. Only those who confess Jesus will be saved and the rest of the world. All the rest (166 Billion people since life began) will suffer punishment eternally
2- If a baby isn’t baptized before they die they are going to hell.
3- Anyone who lives an excellent and moral life but does not confess Jesus as their Lord and Savior will burn in hell eternally.
4- God demands that we forgive 70 x 7 but He won’t forgive us.
5- An eternal-infinite hell awaits those who committed finite sins.
6- Anyone who commits suicide will burn forever in the fires of hell.
7-The Good News was only for a small majority of the world’s population- for the rest it’s bad news: maybe even a nightmre!
8- Free will is more powerful than any plan that God had or has.
Tell me again about this God who is LOVE?
*Thanks to Ernie Fitzpatrick for this post. You can find Ernie at LRC Houston
Ξ December 6th, 2008 | → 3 Comments | ∇ Life |
I was reminded by a recent post from Brian, at the "Beautiful Heresy", just how much I believe panentheism. Please don’t confuse panentheism with pantheism. Here is how I see panentheism:
"One of the wildest aspects of mystical Christian thought lies in the simple truth that God is everywhere. And if God is in fact everywhere, then God is in all things, and all things are in God. As mystical theologian Matthew Fox writes: "As the ocean is in the fish and the fish are in God, so God is in everything and everything is in God." Theologians call this Biblical position "panENtheism," meaning literally, "all in God." Panentheism is distinguished from pantheism, which maintains that God is all, and all is God. Panentheism is not yet in most dictionaries, but with Google listing over 8500 pages with the word, perhaps its time has come!"
*Biblical Panentheism, the Everywhere-ness of God, God in all things
Here is another example of panentheism from a commenter on Brian’s post who goes by the screen name of "Someday":
"One of my favorite illustrations of the idea you are describing can be found in the following quote from a 14th-century saint, Catherine of Siena who wrote:
"The soul is in God, and God is in the soul, as the fish is in the ocean and the ocean in the fish."
If you ask a fish to point to the ocean, it must point up, down, all around itself, and finally inside itself. Yet, the fish is not the ocean.
Here are some verses from the Bible which speak to panentheism:
Colossians 1:15-17, II Chronicles 2:6, Job 38:6-7, 19, 25, 29, 37,41, Psalms 19: 1-2, Psalms 42:7, Psalms 139: 7-10, Jeremiah 23, 24, Matthew 5:26, 28-29, John 1:2-5, John 6:33, 36, Acts 17:28, Romans 8:36, Ephesians 4:6, I John 4:16, I John 1:5.
Check it out for yourself. You should have no trouble finding refences to panentheism on the web.
Ξ December 2nd, 2008 | → 4 Comments | ∇ Life |
I have posted on Ecclesiates 3:1-8, the famous "Too everything there is a season…." monologue previously and even compared it to verses in the "Tao-te-ching" I would like to explore that comparison again. Both authors, Qoheleth in "Ecclesiates", and Lao-tzu in the "Tao-te-ching" seem to be radically critiquing conventional wisdom.
Lao-tzu expresses that the "Tao" or "Way" is intrinsically ineffable. A Mystery with a capital M. He says that living in accord with the "Tao" is "not grasping"; the opposite of conventional wisdom where we are always seeking to grasp the ineffable reality. Maybe this says something about our always seeking, grasping for truth. Our conventional wisdom seems to be all about grasping, seeking for truth. But, Lao-tzu says, grasping is futile. Not only is it futile, but it is the source of suffering.
Qoheleth, author of Ecclesiates, speaks with striking similarities. He says we cannot make straight what God has made crooked, points to the Mystery, with a capital M of the sacred. To him, God is not absent; God is simply beyond all our attempts to make the divine real. Here again, we seek by conventional wisdom, to accomplish what we cannot lay hold of; that which is insubstantial and ephemeral. How do we attempt to accomplish the above? We try through seeking, grasping for truth.
I realize that Qoheleth is often seen as unrelievedly pessimistic in his outlook. So, how much can we learn from him. Qoheleth is not as pessimistic as he might at first appear. "Remember the grave in the days of your youth". At first this sounds very pessimistic, melancholic. It, however, is attempting to make us aware of death to teach us what is important about life. Death is the true teacher of wisdom. Look at the last few verses of the book, Ecc 9:7-10
Go, eat your bread with enjoyment, and drink your wine with a merry heart……enjoy life with the wife whom you love…..Whatever your hand finds to do, do with your might.
To do whatever you do "with your might" suggests living strongly, fully, not holding back is not about pursuing the rewards promised by conventional wisdom, but about living in the present (or the NOW, as Eckart Tolle would put it).
So our grasping, seeking and striving should perhaps be reduced to "Carpe Diem". Don’t miss it; don’t let it slip by; don’t waste it "chasing the wind" (quite the metaphor for futility).
* Source material from the "Tao-te-ching" and Marcus Borg
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